Neal B. Abraham is an American physicist, in 2018 retired from his position as executive director at the

Five College Consortium The Five College Consortium (often referred to as simply the Five Colleges) comprises four liberal arts colleges and one university in the Connecticut River Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts: Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holy ...

, a position he held beginning in 2009. He is a member of the board of directors of the Association for Collaborative Leadership (ACL). Prior to his work at the Five Colleges, he was executive vice president of

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

and prior to that, a Physics Professor and department chair at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

. Abraham has been a leader in developing physics

undergraduate research Undergraduate research is often described as the exploration of a specific research topic by an undergraduate student that seeks to make an original contribution to the disciplinIt is a fairly recent concept in the academic community, with roots i ...

at Bryn Mawr, DePauw, and the Five Colleges. His research is on nonlinear dynamics, chaos, and lasers. He is an elected fellow of

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

and two major physics societies.''"Neal B. Abraham". aaas.org. Retrieved April 21, 2017.''

Education

Neal Abraham received his BS in physics in 1972 at

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = J ...

. He was awarded the PhD in physics from Bryn Mawr College in 1977.

Academic career

Abraham began his career with an appointment to the physics department at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

in 1977–1980. He then moved to the physics faculty at Bryn Mawr College where from 1980 to 1987 he rose through the professorial ranks and served as department chair.May, 2013 "GSAS:Big Science, Small School" ''Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin.'' Then he accepted a position as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the Faculty, professor of physics and astronomy at DePauw University. In 2009, he was appointed executive director of the

, from which position he retired in 2018. Abraham has been a leader nationally in physics

. He was a founding member of Project Kaleidoscope and

National Conference on Undergraduate Research The National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) was established in 1987 at the University of North Carolina at Asheville to promote undergraduate research in universities throughout the United States. Undergraduate students are invited t ...

and served as president of the

Council on Undergraduate Research The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) is a membership organization founded in 1987 that supports the activity of undergraduate research. It sponsors various activities and events at campuses around the US to enhance the undergraduate researc ...

. He was a member of the board of the Association for Collaborative Leadership (ACL) and cofounded their summer institutes for leadership in higher education.

Honors and awards

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

Citizen of the Year in the Greencastle community 2009 * Trustee of Dickinson College 2009-present * Fellow of the

* Fellow of the

Optical Society of America Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

* Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

*Elected to

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

, the Scientific Honor Society

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American physicists Dickinson College alumni Bryn Mawr College alumni Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of Optica (society) Fellows of the American Physical Society {{US-physicist-stub